Nearly 40% on FB Surprised By Friends' Politics

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Almost 40 percent of Facebook users reported being shocked a seeing a friend was actually more conservative or liberal than they thought. Their politics proved too much for 18 percent of respondents who unfriended the political offenders.

A survey by the Pew Internet Project, interviewed 2,253 respondent via landline or cellular phone who told the survey that, for the most part, they avoid confrontations about politics.

Among the [social networking site] users whose friends post political content, 25% always agree or mostly agree with their friends’ political postings; 73% of these SNS users “only sometimes” agree or never agree with their friends’ political postings. When they disagree with others’ posts, 66% of these SNS users say they usually ignore the posts; 28% said they usually respond with comments or posts of their own; and 5% said it depends on the circumstances.

Still, 16 percent have followed or added friends whose politics they like. Those that were unfriended for their political beliefs were usually distant relatives or tertiary friends, according to the survey.

We're sure many Facebook users have been surprised at friends' politics, especially since all you remember discussing in college was the opposite sex and drinking. It's not surprising that political beliefs are a bit more extreme -- according to the survey, liberals and conservatives outstrip the general population on the Internet.